Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS--Advocates for community services, including
former residents of Fernald Developmental Center, gathered at the State House
Friday to call again for the closure of the 156-year-old facility and the other
state-run institutions that house people with mental retardation.

"We need closure. We need that school to be closed," said Joan Souza,
who lived at Fernald from the 1950s to 1970s.

Friday's press conference was organized in response to a legal maneuver
earlier in the week by parents of Fernald residents, who have been battling
Governor Mitt Romney's plan to close the aging institution. Romney announced in
February of last year that the institution would shut down by October 2004 and
its then 302 residents moved to other state-run facilities or into homes in the
community. The governor hinted that closing Fernald was the first step in his
plan to de-institutionalize the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Efforts by parents of Fernald residents and local leaders have
effectively slowed the process so that only a few dozen have been moved --
mostly transferred to other facilities.

On Wednesday, attorney Beryl Cohen, who represents the interests of
parents of Fernald residents, filed a legal brief calling on U.S. District
Court Judge Joseph Tauro to reopen a class-action suit that parents had filed
against the state in 1972. That suit charged that the institutions were
understaffed, that staff were not properly trained, and that conditions were
inhumane. The case ended in 1993 with an federal court order requiring the
state to provide residents with "equal or better facilities" in the "least
restrictive, most normal, appropriate residential environment."

Cohen argued that the state's recent decision to close large
institutions, and move the residents to smaller, community-based settings, has
jeopardized the health and safety of those still inside.

A coalition of more than 80 disability-related organizations have joined
The Arc of Massachusetts in its efforts to force an end to large institutions,
which they consider and out-dated form of segregation. Their gathering Friday
at the State House was intended to show support for Romney's plan.

"We think it essential for Governor Mitt Romney to stick to his guns for
full closure and invest in the communities," said Leo Sarkissian, executive
director of The Arc of Massachusetts. "Statistics show it's eventually going to
close. We need to reinvest in the community."

The state currently spends $160,000 annually on each resident at
Fernald, providing three staff members for every resident. Community advocates
say this money would go a lot further, and would provide a level of
independence, freedom and individualized service that institutions simply are
not equipped to provide.

"There's no need to segregate individuals," said Sarkissian. "It's a
matter of civil rights."

Monday's Daily News Tribune featured a story about Ruth George, who told
of being raped twice, along with suffering other indignities, while a resident
of Fernald.

"I don't want to go back there," she screamed, when asked about the
facility. "I don't want to go back there."

The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center,the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.